


Angels May Weep for her Courage

by Biblioholic93



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Fade to Black, Herding Cats, Soda Abuse, Traps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:15:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25785007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biblioholic93/pseuds/Biblioholic93
Summary: Terezi decides to run a gauntlet to reach her love. Eridan objects to this use of the death-maze protecting his house. A fade to black romance for an odd pairing. Inspired by the first Herding Cats, which is extremely long and fun.
Relationships: Eridan Ampora/Terezi Pyrope
Kudos: 1





	Angels May Weep for her Courage

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Herding Cats](https://archiveofourown.org/works/349720) by [childishGambino](https://archiveofourown.org/users/childishGambino/pseuds/childishGambino). 



Eridan was chilling in his hive, when he hears a bang far below. Swearing, he jumps up and near instantly mans the murder hole in the floor, rifle buzzing up, when suddenly there's a mad cackle that sets him at ease somehow. Why'd she... "Come on Ter, not the death trap trek again," he winged down the hole, where he could see her cute grin three floors down.

The fortifications on his house, at least for the lower levels, were laid out so that anything coming from his planet would somewhat easily enter but not so easily exit the lowermost levels before the gates.

"Figured I'd take the hard way~" she simpered up at him, as he stuffs Ahab's Crosshairs on the gun rack and scowls at the far wall, flopping down. A bottle drops in his hand from his sylladex and he takes a long swig. Only she could find taking his sprite's gate near the mailbox up the gauntlet to be fun.

Nonetheless, the proceeding giggles and various "Hah," "Woop" and "Booyeah"s cheered him up more than he wants to be cheered, and left him blushing on the couch with his heart pounding slightly faster with sugar rush and worry and admiration. She was amazing. He's _seen_ how it looks down there. It's terrifying to sit through it. Hadn't heard her in a while...

BANG! The door throws open and she is posed perfectly in the doorway, on her cane leaning back sharply grinning as Eridan reflexively sits up half straight, mostly lifted on his palm. A tiny click is heard from her glasses. "Snapshot," Terezi crows, slipping her glasses down to wink. "New trollian profile pic for you," she teases as she saunters over. "So thoughtful to include such a relaxing gauntlet for your matesprite to kick off her shoes in."

Eridan stands with all further grace (but face flushed) to meet her, and scratches under his fin sheepishly. "Relaxing gauntlet.... Only you would think to use those two words together," he fondly states. He reaches, and Terezi holds his free hand loosely, smushing up against him to rub noses in greetings, a gesture of hers he was fond of not only for generous smushing curves. Quick kisses had to be spontaneous, 3ARN3D. No better way in the world to go about things. She also liked his dorkiness. "I didn't hear a trap but..."

Terezi rolls her eyes dramatically. "Really, it's good that I went and helped Gamzee give your gauntlet some real teeth and vinegar, or it'd be a snoozefest."

"You know you like the rush," Eridan said, and pushed some Blackberry Pie Faygo into her hand. She made to drink, and he picked her up suddenly and made her spill it all over her T shirt and giggle as he waltzed them to the couch, and sat with her back in his lap. 

She gave him quite the evil eye as he eyed her wet t shirt appreciatively, but clearly didn't quite mind being sticky. "Stinker." They sat for a long moment, Terezi scootching a ready pillow under her shoulders. Eridan's gaze moved to her glasses, gently removing them to the end table, both settling in. His thumb went to her cheek, slowly petting it.

"Yeah," she finally spoke up, "truthfully it is exciting. Most of why I liked Aradia clouding for me was her funny tomb adventures. I got to the point where I could actually loot the gauntlet bodies when me and Vriska were thinking of some expenditure." 

"Could we not talk about Alternia, or bodies," Eridan wonders. "Any reason ya gotta scare me in particular?"

"I was thinking of something as I headed over," Terezi says, wiggling to twiddle her thumbs around the neck of the Faygo. "Look, I wouldn't if I hadn't designed the damned thing myself, but having done so, I'm allowed to give it zero respect if... eh. Hard to say." She blushed faintly as she contemplated her hands, then took a long drink. The fizzy colors dancing across her tongue made her shiver, and she smiles ruefully. "I know every one of it's weaknesses, but even still it's exciting in a wagon load of ways. In... more ways than I readily admit." Another... ok that's a chug, makes her wiggle and throw the empty bottle to bounce off the ceiling into the trash. "Fuck yeahhhh," she softly cried, and raised her arms as she looked up at him, coy and smug.

Eridan thinks that sexy movement and pose was on purpose and couldn't look too closely without bein hypnotised, so he raised both hands and made finger guns. Both snaps drop another Faygo in hand, orange sherbert and grape chocolate cream. Terezi snatches up the latter, and Eridan puts a palm over Terezi's hand when she makes to open it. That's the last passive test failed. Things made all too much sense, and Terezi was less subtle than usual. Nerves probably. 

"Ter, what's up? You're ramping up to something. I think I get it... you don't have to, and I don't think I want this version a events. You gettin foreplay via swinging axe shitshows an gettin sugar rushed to fuck knows. Just talk with me here, ain't sayin no."

She carefully sat up so that she was next to him on the couch, scratching in her wild hair. "Caught," she says with a shrug. "I must be...." Where her eyes were pointed wasn't technically important, but her head turns and lowers, hand lowering to hold her jaw.

Politely pausing, Eridan pushed forward, wrapping an arm around her. "So what made ya think of this," he politely asked. 

"Aradia and I were just jamming," Terezi sighed, slouching a bit, a fierce blush catching up to her. "She had all the good gossip and I figured caution was serving us more fractionally by the day."

"Ter you know I don't need to," Eridan says. "Fuck knows I want to, but you've got not ready all over your mannerism. I've gone perigees without, liasons," his gaze rolled to the coffee table embarrassedly. "But you've never, and I've never done it flushed. You an Ar aren't the same kinda person. She's a little... high on life right now. Of course she's ready." In Eridan's opinion, Aradia kinda acted like all the emotions she might've felt while dead were all coming back in spurts. But what does he know?

"... Change tack, then," Terezi says, hand dropping and looking back at him. "My convictions don't change. I'm tense?" She shrugged. "Massage me."

Eridan just grins, and imagines a naval broadside salute for his achievement. Oh yes he _would_ like to rub her body down, lovingly ease her each intramuscular stress nub. "Terezi... a thousand times yes." He kissed her, gentle and sweet.  
***

As she suggested it, and as they kissed relaxingly, Terezi was hiding it far better than before, but she was still raw with nerves. The gauntlet had actually set her on the edge of combat readiness, which was frustratingly clashing with her heart spurting warm tremmors of romantic regard through her and nerves twisting her belly through it all. Well, he's alright with chess. It makes her giddy that he's so flexible and eager to please now. Thank goodness Nepeta, what have you done to this troll? He gets up, and she shunts him a pillow for his knees as she lays down on her back. He starts at the shoulders, probing thumbs pushing in carefully harder and harder until she groaned into the pillow. Ah, fuck... she trembles, her arms twitching as they relax.

"Good lord wwoman," he muttered, "you're so tense." He rolls his knuckles across her upper back. "You needed a massage two fuckin sweeps ago." That sounded about right. That ease spreading warmly through her neck was like she was forgiving Vriska a bit more with each press into her aches. "It's not like you to be so vulnerable. Everything ok?"

"This thing with Tavros Aradia has," Terezi sighs and huffs out, mind completely wandering, "it's made her act really weird. I get that she has a lot to be angry for almost retroactively, and it's not in her living nature to make anyone worry about her, but I can't tell her to her face that she might be making bad decisions, too fast, because she's just high on life now. That she's making up for lost time, which will tire her out fast, with a hard crash sometime. She has to be told to take time for herself, and it's so relieving that she listens to my schedules that insist on breaks and some short shifts in the black king duty. She's so focused on the comfort of others and experience... chillingly familiar. I have learned those lessons... maybe they will turn out differently for her though, here. It's almost like... reacquired naivete. I wish I could stop her future hurt so much, but when I'm not sure it'll even exist...."

Eridan seemed thoughtful to her senses, as he started working back and forth between several tension points in her sides, making her breathe deeply and make more shameful noises. "... That sounds hard to take for any extended conversation."

"Mmyeh," Terezi agrees. He gets to her lower back. "Lower. T-tiny bit more. Nnh! Bit harder..." All those feelings were churning a bit, but easing down, with shame. "Hff. She's a bit much," she admits.

"I love you so much," Eridan gushes above. "Um, may I..."

Terezi had to giggle. "Sure. Don't be _too_ quick, but leaving off a certain area of five inches around..." she tittered harder as she smelled his blush from over her shoulder.

"I see how it's gettin," Eridan says, and only skims her butt to push fingers into her mid, inner thighs, making her squeak, and move uncertainly. "Teasin me now. Really. When I know where yer ticklish. And that you like that entirely too much. This impatience I hear?" His thumbs almost pet down her thighs, close to the back of her knees on the downstroke.

"A-ah, no?" Terezi stifled an uncharacteristic laugh, shivering harder. Her heart lurches a bit, which influences the tiny whine into the pillow, that she is mortified with.

Then, Eridan let off, and at her muffled mutter as he genuinely began to ease tension in her right thigh, audibly smirks with his next comment. "Well good, because you're still not relaxed." He knows her so well. 

When he does get down passed her calves he returns up, satisfies himself to her giggles with a big old ass grab. But, he gets to work too. Terezi is surprised with how much she relaxes when he digs in a few spots there. Weird. She giggles some more after he rolls her over and smooches her fiercely. Pets her head and neck, cheeks, forehead. His expression was deliciously possessive, and her hidden compunctions crumble. He lets her take off his shirt, before he gets to her arms, belly, and chest. She feels a bit noodly after that, sign of a job well done, but nothing would stop her from the thorough licking of her matesprit  
**********

Later, Terezi is lounging on the bed, under the covers, with Eridan blissed out next to her. Sighing longingly, she lets her mind wander, a bit more directed. Unwelcome thoughts of Karkat and that whole mess pop up but she gives the thoughts drubbings until it crawls back into the depths of her subconscious. Her hand pets down Eridan's back, touching his trim muscles appreciatively. 

Everything seemed well, as well as Sgrub can be. Nepeta has truly helped alter their lives forever, for better, and she knows she could be happy with Eridan for her whole life. Her dorky love...

A bang downstairs with screeching made Eridan swear and scramble to man the murderhole. ZOOOONCH, the energy rifle droned, and as the angel darted out of the beam, a thud swish finished the job. He muttered darkly under his breath. "Can we take this to your hive," he asks hopefully. "I still wanna hang out, but it's not safe to let our guards down too long here."

Terezi sat up and stretched. Yawned. "Fine," she said with a shrug, and threw him his pants. "I just wanted to surprise you anyways. Though, I don't particularly care if one gets in here in the middle of things... could be fun."

"Yeah well I do," Eridan asserted. "I need my focus, don't wanna disappoint." 

"The only way you could do that is to fall asleep before we have our second round," she jabs, and they both laugh. "You were amazing."

"No, _you_ were amazing." They scuffled back into a respectable state of attire.

"As always. But I insist, you were very sweet. All that waiting must be good for ideas." They climbed the stairs to the gate for LOTAF. "I'm glad I wasn't the only one up for some licking~"

"Hush," the seadweller waved his hand as a blush rose. "Gotta make sure you enjoy yourself. That's all, I don't take as much freaky pleasure outta it as you do."

"You know you love my predilictation to the oral exploration." She hip bumped him playfully. "I didn't finish my map of you, you know~"

"You don't haveta finish it all at once."

"Cartography is important though~"

"Who's high on life now?" They had reached Terezi's hiveblock, and Eridan playfully pinned her to the wall and got a giggle as he stared into her eyes. 

"I knew I had been too cautious," she murmurs at his intensity  
The kiss was more heated this time, and devolved quicker as Terezi flipped Eridan against the wall.

Elsewhere, in a board meeting on LOTAM, Gamzee smirks and closes his laptop, only saying "Motherfucking miracles. Good on ya palebro."

(Eridan is being a good boy.)


End file.
